Directed By Gerard Johnstone

Starring – Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Amie Donald

The Plot – A robotics engineer (Williams) at a toy company builds a life-like doll for the protection and kinship of her niece (McGraw), after her parents are tragically killed in an untimely car accident. Now, a part of their daily lives, M3gan (Donald) begins to take on a life of its own, designed to crush anyone who stands in the way.

Rated PG-13 for violent content and terror, some strong adult language and a suggestive reference

M3GAN – official trailer – YouTube

POSITIVES

As far as January horror releases go, “M3gan” isn’t quite as memorably bad as some of its predecessors over the last decade, with a few key beneficial aspects keeping its anabolic corpse above water. The first is the design of the doll itself, here emulated synthetically by a child actress, with computer-generated influence saved for her facial likeness. The latter is important because it constantly conveys to us the inhumanity of the doll, despite bodily movements that would argue otherwise, and the former helps to further brandish the technological advancements of the world within the context of the film, creating impressive appeal for the product that we interpret to perform unlike anything we’ve ever seen. As for facial designs, “M3gan” carries with her the same unnerving subtlety in innocence that we’ve associated with other unhuman antagonists, but with windows to the soul that articulate her strongest sentiments at any given moment. Johnstone’s best capabilities as a director are to close-up on such whenever conflict materializes, bringing with it a deeper sense of knowledge about the inevitability that hangs overhead, despite charming dialogue that would illustrate otherwise. Aside from the anabolic antagonist, the film is equally benefited by a smoothly consistent pacing to its storytelling that constantly maintains engagement throughout its 94-minute run time. The time itself is harmless to begin with, but co-writers James Wan and Akela Cooper enhance matters by taking plenty of time to flesh out these respective characters, to articulate what about M3gan completes what they lack, as well as throwing a conflict into the experience every fifteen minutes to exude creativity to all of M3gan’s dangerous capabilities. As for the script itself, there’s a thorough unveiling and cautionary tale about the excess and addiction of technology that remains pertinent throughout, often obscuring the bond between aunt and niece that the latter requires in picking up the pieces of what’s left of her life. Finally, while the performances are hit and miss thanks to some problems with the character designs I will eventually get to, the work from eleven-year-old Violet McGraw is a stable difference in my investment to their newfound plights. McGraw capitalizes on a vulnerability factor and empathetic quality to Cady that only maximizes her victimizing, supplanting with it a hefty narrative whose driving of the storytelling easily makes her the most important character in a title that says otherwise.

NEGATIVES

“M3gan” is essentially soulless for a lot of reasons, but primarily in being comprised of the many derivative pieces of familiarity that make up the sum of her whole. Because this film is imbedded with evidential pieces in everything from “Child’s Play” to “The Terminator”, it finds so little originality on its own terms, cementing with it an inescapable predictability that shorts its creative circuits, all the while outlining the deeper problems in spades with nearly every creative aspect. The tone is far too serious, keeping the material from ever fully exploring the silliness of its gimmick with tongue and cheek sentiments, and the corresponding PG-13 rating offers minimal opportunities of expression for a director to capably lose themself and their audience in the carnage candy they seek so desperately. It’s so condensed and sanitized that the editing works overtime with a disbarring consistency of flash edits that not only visually obscure coherence in the clarity of character deaths, but also water down an already colorless canvas that can’t even begin to tackle the disappointment in depiction that feels promised in the elaborate means of M3gan’s torture. In addition to this, the characters of the movie are downright detestable, especially Williams’ Gemma, who took every opportunity to pull a groan from my interpretation. Williams herself is doing the best she can with the role, enacting an overwhelming veracity to her portrayal that often drives her concern, but the design of her character is among the weakest that I can remember in some time, leading to heartless ignorance in the care of her ailing niece who just lost her parents. I honestly yearned to see this character meet her fateful demise throughout, and in a movie featuring a killer android, it seems ridiculous that Gemma is the one deserving of a swift kick. Aside from her, the supporting cast are even worse, serving as these one-dimensional cartoons who boisterously deliver these obvious lines of dialogue so ripe with such an overwhelming lack of compassion that they frequently feel as inhuman as the android at the forefront of the conflict. Finally, while most of the story is easy to properly interpret, there were a few noticeable plot holes in logic that frequently hindered my investment to the plight of the protagonists. Some small instances can easily be overlooked, such as those that add to the deliveries of some carefully placed punchlines, but other bigger leaps in logic glare an internal disconnect with the establishing rules of the world contained in the film, supplanting a stirring subconsciousness that can’t overlook the many conveniences used to supplant the next body or transition in its execution.

OVERALL
There’s plenty going on in “M3gan”, but nothing that is ever originally conceived or even slightly expressive to her programming. Though the experience is better than initially expected, thanks in whole to the devious doll and all of her unique capabilities of torture, the world surrounding her simply isn’t cunning enough to keep up, leaving this a bucket of bolts without the brain, soul, or heart to make the most of its brief lifespan.

My Grade: 5/10 or D+